Ginsberg and Carr, two young men with troubled home lives, become fast friends and eventually more, but the latter's relationship with a possessive older man, failed intellectual-turned-janitor David Kammerer (Michael C. Hall), becomes the dark heart of this movie -- a relationship that ends in bitterness and bloodshed.

Kill Your Darlings makes these intellectual icons human and accessible rather than daunting and overly academic. Sure, they're pretentious, but they're also young, vulnerable and full of ambition and ideas so pretension comes with the territory. As interested as the film is in the ideas that formed the Beat movement, it's more a story about the personal freedom the Beat poets sought, specifically with sexuality at time when being gay meant being in the closet.

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Radcliffe is the standout in a cast full of heavy hitters, although Ginsberg is more an observer here at times than necessarily a driving force in the plot. Radcliffe plays Ginsberg not as a Great Poet in the making but as a kid finding his way in the world; it's both a coming-of-age story and a coming out story for Ginsberg. (Radcliffe has some pretty explicit sex scenes here just to further distance himself from his Harry Potter image.)

DeHaan is captivating as Lu, the charming and volatile instigator of the Beat movement -- and yet one who never seemed to write anything himself. (Indeed, David writes Lu's homework assignments in exchange for sex.) DeHaan holds the screen with an intensity actors twice his age have to yet to command; he's definitely a young actor to watch for. Lu's ultimately tragic relationship with David also profoundly changes his friendship with Allen.

Hall captures the jealousy and desperation of this older man, while Foster and Huston have a fair number of scenes to shine as Burroughs and Kerouac, respectively. Of the female characters, only Jennifer Jason Leigh gets anything much to sink her teeth into as Allen's needy, unstable mother. Elizabeth Olsen is underused as Kerouac's (oft-cheated on) lover Edie. Arrested Development's David Cross plays Allen's dad, who was also a poet but the focus here is on his failed marriage and poor handling of his wife's mental illness. Kyra Sedgwick pops up as Lucien's mom.

Director John Krokidas and his co-screenwriter Austin Bunn display a real feel for the era and how to make these larger-than-life figures human and understandable for those without their lofty literary inclinations. Kill Your Darlings clips along at a brisk pace and looks good (and more expensive than it likely cost to produce). There are moments of dark comedy to be found here, too, especially when we see these aspiring Beats trying drugs or going to jazz clubs.

Kill Your Darlings makes you understand what made these Beat Generation icons tick, why they wanted to subvert authority and tradition, but it would still be engrossing even if it were about fictitious people. It might be about a certain time and literary movement, but it's just as much about troubled young men trying to find their way in the world, wrestle with their demons, and be loved.

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The Verdict

Powered by the performances of Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan, Kill Your Darlings is as much about the meaning of the Beat Generation as it is about young men fighting their demons and embracing their passions.